How to Make Ice Cream in a Bag
It is HOT here in Florida right now… and my oldest is home for summer vacation, so we are in full-on summer mode!
And what better way to celebrate the season than with homemade ice cream?
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We don’t have an ice cream maker (yet), but good news – you don’t need one to make your own ice cream at home!
(Want to make more than about a pint of ice cream? An ice cream maker might be the way to go. This one is affordable and has good reviews!)
Elementary school science teachers have been doing this for years, and yes, it really works.
With just a few ingredients that you probably already have at home (the only thing I needed to pick up was half & half, and I got some with my Walmart+ grocery order – you can sign up for a free trial by clicking here).
What You Need
1 cup of half & half
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp sugar
¼ cup salt
Ice (enough to fill a large Ziploc bag about ¾ way full)
Ziploc bags – 1 gallon sized, 2 sandwich sized
How to Make Your Ice Cream
- Pour 1 cup of half & half into one of your small ziploc bags. Add in ½ tsp of vanilla extract and 1 tbsp of sugar. Seal the bag, making sure to let excess air out.
- Place your bag with the ice cream mixture inside your other small baggie. Let the air out and seal that bag. (This step is to make sure you don’t end up with salty ice cream!)
3. Fill your large Ziploc bag at least halfway full with ice, and sprinkle the ¼ cup of salt onto the ice. Give the bag a shake.
4. Place your double-bagged ice cream mixture inside the large bag with ice. We added a little more ice and a little more salt on top. Then seal the large bag.
5. Now comes the fun part! You are going to SHAKE your large Ziploc bag, for six to eight minutes! I set a timer for eight minutes and then played some shake-themed music (see below – I’ve got a list for you!), and we took turns turning and shaking the bag. It’s going to get COLD, so feel free to wear oven mitts!
6. Carefully open the large bag and remove your double-bagged ice cream. Remember, the goal here is to not get any salt in your ice cream!
7. Open your small bags. You did it! Your final step is to eat and enjoy!
A Few Notes and Options
*I’ve read that you can use regular whole milk instead of half & half, the ice cream just doesn’t come out quite as creamy. We haven’t tried it, but if you do, I’d love to hear about how yours comes out!
*Want to make chocolate ice cream? Leave out the vanilla extract and sugar and add chocolate syrup instead!
*Using quality bags will most likely save you from making a mess. We used a cheap gallon sized bag (I think it was from the dollar store) and it leaked while we were shaking. It didn’t affect our ice cream at all but it did make a mess.
The Science (Why this Works)
Salt lowers the freezing temperature of water, making ice melt faster (that’s why they salt icy roads when it snows!). This is called freezing point depression. The ice pulls heat from surrounding sources – in this case, the ice cream mixture – in order to melt. This causes the ice cream mixture to freeze!
Want to learn a little more about this cool science phenomenon? Emily Calendrelli (aka the Space Gal) explains it even better in this video!
And as promised, some shake-themed songs for your ice cream shaking dance party
- Shake it Off by Taylor Swift
- Shake Your Booty by KC and the Sunshine Gang
- Shake a Tail Feather by the Blue Brothers
- Shake Your Groove Thing by Peaches & Herbs
- Shake Your Pom Pom by Missy Elliott
- Shake That by Scooter
- Shake it Like That by Metro Station
If you make some homemade ice cream in a bag, I’d love to hear how yours turns out! Comment below or tag me on Instagram to tell me about yours!
—-> Looking for more fun ideas to do as a family over summer vacation? Make sure to check out my EPIC summer bucket list craft and idea list!
